From October 5 to 7, 2025, Romain Lopez and Célina Le Bec represented Eleven VMS in Amsterdam at the IT Procurement & Sourcing Summit, an event that brought together more than 650 professionals from the fields of purchasing, IT, and vendor management.
The goal was to observe market trends, identify drivers of innovation, and better understand how the IT procurement function is structured in the face of increasingly rapid technological and organizational transformations.
This edition offered valuable insight into the maturity level of European organizations and the growing importance of tools dedicated to supplier and intellectual service management.
1. From management to strategic collaboration: Vendor Management is reinventing itself
One of the most striking messages from the summit concerned the transformation of the role of Purchasing in supplier relations.
Numerous presentations, particularly those focusing on Vendor Risk Management and RFP Control, emphasized that a company's performance is no longer measured solely by cost reduction, but by the ability of its Purchasing departments to collaborate with their external partners.
The “best price” approach is gradually giving way to a “best partnership” approach, with:
a more transparent relationship,
strategic alignment with business objectives,
and a desire to create long-term value.
This evolution confirms a strong belief at Eleven VMS:
Suppliers are no longer adjustment variables, but full-fledged players in the company's performance.
2. Towards greater maturity in IT procurement
The maturity of organizations in terms of IT procurement was a second recurring theme at the show. Feedback shared highlighted that this maturity is based on three complementary pillars:
Robust processes to ensure compliance and consistency between entities
Evolving skills, particularly in data, management, and digital technology
Clear governance to align purchasing, IT, and business teams in a common approach.
The most advanced companies are no longer those that digitize the most, but those that manage to balance structure, skills, and agility.
The tool is a lever, and it is the ability to bring it to life within a clear governance framework that creates true performance.
This view is in line with Eleven VMS's mission: to help purchasing departments transform the management of their service providers into a strategic advantage, thanks to a simple, intelligent, and collaborative platform.
3. Artificial intelligence, a catalyst for transformation in procurement
The topic of AI in procurement naturally took center stage at the summit. Presentations on AI in procurement confirmed that artificial intelligence is no longer a peripheral issue: it is becoming a pillar of performance and decision-making.
Its practical applications are multiplying:
automatic generation of calls for tenders,
detection of supplier risks,
sourcing optimization,
predictive analysis of costs and deadlines.
But the key lies in governance. Without a clear framework, AI can fragment processes and complicate management.
That's why industry experts are calling for “responsible” AI, guided by rules of transparency and compliance.
At Eleven VMS, we share this approach: artificial intelligence should simplify, not complicate.
It should serve the clarity and performance of purchasing teams, not replace them.
4. Market learning: where does value lie?
Beyond the conferences, this event provided a better understanding of regional dynamics in the European market.
The Benelux, DACH region, and Nordic countries stand out for their maturity in vendor management tools and their desire to integrate data and automation at the heart of their practices.
Discussions also highlighted a structural trend:
a gradual shift from Time & Material (T&M) models to integrated service centers that are more agile and performance-oriented.
This evolution reinforces the relevance of a comprehensive and centralized VMS approach capable of managing hybrid collaboration models that combine fixed-price projects, time and materials, and long-term partnerships.
One step closer to strategic procurement transformation
The IT Procurement & Sourcing Summit 2025 confirmed what we see every day in the field:
the future of procurement will be built around three essential pillars: strategic collaboration, organizational maturity, and the responsible use of AI.
At Eleven VMS, we support companies in this transformation. Our mission: to offer intelligent, simple, and transparent control over all of their external resources, making Vendor Management a lever for performance and strategic clarity.
Being at the heart of the European procurement ecosystem also means embracing our role: making procurement a more strategic, inclusive, and forward-looking function.
